Bird, Seasonal & Swine Flu

Brits don't believe Tamiflu works...British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu12 Nov.`12 — A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.

The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic. On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for European governments to sue Roche. "I suggest we boycott Roche's products until they publish missing Tamiflu data," wrote Peter Gotzsche, leader of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen. He said governments should take legal action against Roche to get the money back that was "needlessly" spent on stockpiling Tamiflu.

Last year, Tamiflu was included in a list of "essential medicines" by the World Health Organization, a list that often prompts governments or donor agencies to buy the drug. Tamiflu is used to treat both seasonal flu and new flu viruses like bird flu or swine flu. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the agency had enough proof to warrant its use for unusual influenza viruses, like bird flu. "We do have substantive evidence it can stop or hinder progression to severe disease like pneumonia," he said.

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Tamiflu as one of two medications for treating regular flu. The other is GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza. The CDC says such antivirals can shorten the duration of symptoms and reduce the risk of complications and hospitalization. In 2009, the BMJ and researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Centre asked Roche to make all its Tamiflu data available. At the time, Cochrane Centre scientists were commissioned by Britain to evaluate flu drugs. They found no proof that Tamiflu reduced the number of complications in people with influenza. "Despite a public promise to release (internal company reports) for each (Tamiflu) trial...Roche has stonewalled," BMJ editor Fiona Godlee wrote in an editorial last month.

In a statement, Roche said it had complied with all legal requirements on publishing data and provided Gotzsche and his colleagues with 3,200 pages of information to answer their questions. "Roche has made full clinical study data ... available to national health authorities according to their various requirements, so they can conduct their own analyses," the company said. Roche says it doesn't usually release patient-level data available due to legal or confidentiality constraints. It said it did not provide the requested data to the scientists because they refused to sign a confidentiality agreement. Roche is also being investigated by the European Medicines Agency for not properly reporting side effects, including possible deaths, for 19 drugs including Tamiflu that were used in about 80,000 patients in the U.S.

Early success in vaccine against multiple strains of influenzaWednesday 30th March, 2016 - Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, in collaboration with University of Georgia has developed a vaccine that protects against multiple strains of both seasonal and pandemic H1N1 influenza in mouse models.

The study, ‘Design and Characterization of a COBRA HA vaccine for H1N1 influenza viruses’, to be presented Wednesday at the World Vaccine Congress US 2016 in Washington, D.C., raises potential for a flu vaccine that covers more than a few strains at a time, and is not affected by the careful guesswork currently used to determine the strains each year's vaccine contains. "One of the problems with current influenza vaccines is that we have to make predictions about which virus strains will be most prevalent every year and build our vaccines around those predictions," said Ted Ross, director of UGA's Center for Vaccines and Immunology and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Infectious Diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine. "What we have developed is a vaccine that protects against multiple different strains of H1N1 virus at once, so we might be able to one day replace the current standard of care with this more broadly cross-protective vaccine."

The H1N1 influenza virus caused a worldwide pandemic in 2009. When it was first detected, it was called swine flu because the virus was similar to those found in pigs, but the virus now circulates as a seasonal form of influenza. The study, published in the Journal of Virology, states that the vaccine has been developed using a technique called Computationally Optimized Broadly Reactive Antigen, or COBRA, UGA researchers Donald Carter, Christopher Darby and Bradford Lefoley, along with Ross, created nine prototype synthetic compound vaccines constructed using genetic sequences from multiple influenza virus strains.

The COBRA vaccines were designed to recognize H1N1 viruses isolated within the last 100 years, but many of the experimental vaccines produced immunity against influenza strains not included in the design. This means that scientists may be able to produce a vaccine that not only protects against recognized seasonal and pandemic influenza strains, but also strains that have yet to be discovered.

While the newly developed vaccine has only been tested with mice, success in the lab has raised expectation of a universal vaccine being developed at some point in the future. "We still have some work to do before we get a truly universal flu vaccine," said Ross. "But the COBRA vaccine we've developed for H1N1 virus subtypes is a major step in the right direction." The scientists said the strategy for designing and using the vaccines could provide a model for designing much more broad, potentially multi-year protection for people.

Additionally, the scientists emphasized the need to identify strains posing the greatest threat as the process of stopping, tweaking and restarting production of the vaccine slows down its production. With a broadly-applicable vaccine, it could be produced continuously and more cheaply, while protecting more people from infection. "What we have developed is a vaccine that protects against multiple different strains of H1N1 virus at once, so we might be able to one day replace the current standard of care with this more broadly cross-protective vaccine," said Ross in a statement.

Granny says, "Dat's right ladies - get yer flu shot an' protect yer baby...Study: Flu Shot While Pregnant Protects the Baby May 03, 2016 - Getting a flu shot while pregnant appears to “significantly” reduce the risk of the baby getting influenza in its first six months, according to a new study.

Writing in the journal Pediatrics, researchers from the University of Utah School of Medicine found babies, whose mothers were vaccinated while pregnant, had a 70 percent reduction in laboratory-confirmed flu cases and an 80 percent reduction in flu-related hospitalizations. The study's lead author, Pediatrician Julie H. Shakib said, "Babies cannot be immunized during their first six months, so they must rely on others for protection from the flu during that time. When pregnant women get the flu vaccine there are clear benefits for their infants."

Getting a flu shot while pregnant protects the baby, too.

Researchers say their findings are important because “pregnant women and young infants are among those at highest risk for dying from flu.” The researchers came to their conclusions based on data from more than 245,000 health records of pregnant women and more than 249,000 infant records covering flu seasons from December of 2005 to March 2014. The data also showed that from among the 658 babies who got the flu, 97 percent came from mothers who had not been vaccinated during pregnancy. Of those babies 151 were sick enough to require hospitalization, and 148 of those babies were born to women who had not been vaccinated.

To make sure the results were “not related to change” the researchers also examined cases of another sickness, respiratory syncytial virus, which often occurs in colder weather. They found that flu vaccinations had no effect on the number of babies getting sick with RSV. The researchers said only about 50 percent of pregnant women reported getting flu shots last flu season and that these findings reveal more expecting mothers should get vaccinated. "We just really hope more pregnant women get the vaccine," Shakib said. "That's the take-home message of the study."

Granny says get yer flu vaccination ladies, so's ya'll have happy, healthy babies...Study: Pregnant Women Pass On Flu-fighting Antibodies to Newborns July 12, 2016 | WASHINGTON — Your muscles ache. Your nose is stuffed up. You don’t want to get out of bed. You can’t get warm. You have the flu.

Expect to be out of commission for a couple of days if you get hit with this nasty virus. Most of us can get a vaccine to lower our chances of infection, but there is one population too young to get this protective shield - newborn babies. For the first six months of their lives, babies born during flu season are at high risk of contracting the disease. Flu shots are always recommended, but doctors say they're even more important for anyone who will be in close proximity to a newborn.

Flu vaccinations for pregnant women protect their newborns, as well

Doctors also recommend pregnant women get vaccinated to protect themselves. Pregnancy is already tough but having the flu on top of it can have serious effects, and even lead to hospitalization. Now, research shows that the benefits of flu vaccines not only protect mom, but are transferred to her baby through the placenta and protect it from flu during the vulnerable first two months of life outside the womb.

Passing on protection

Marta Nunes, a research scientist at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, focuses primarily on protecting newborns from vaccine-preventable diseases. Since the flu vaccine is not recommended for babies younger than six months, she is very interested in ways to protect them until they can receive a vaccine. “Vaccinating pregnant women is a strategy that we wanted to study, if it could work to protect these babies during the early period,” Nunes explained to VOA.

Babies of vaccinated moms are highly protected from contracting the flu during the first two months of life

In her study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, she looked at the number of antibodies present in women who received a flu vaccine and those who received a placebo. After their babies were born, Nunes followed them for six months, comparing the number of antibodies in the mothers to those in their infants. She found that babies born to vaccinated moms were “highly protected” during the first two months, a much higher level than she had seen in a previous study.

Good reason for diabetics to get flu shot...Flu vaccine may help keep diabetics out of the hospitalJuly 25, 2016 - People with diabetes who get the flu vaccine may be less likely to wind up hospitalized for cardiovascular or respiratory problems, a recent study suggests.

“The potential impact of influenza vaccine to reduce serious illness and death highlight the importance to renew efforts to ensure that people with diabetes receive the flu vaccine every year,” said lead study author Dr. Eszter Vamos, a public health researcher at Imperial College London. Vamos and colleagues examined seven years of data on almost 125,000 people in England with type 2 diabetes, which is associated with aging and obesity and accounts for most cases of the disease. Vaccination was associated with a 30 percent lower hospital admission rates for stroke, 22 percent lower rates for heart failure, and 15 percent lower rates for pneumonia or influenza, researchers report in CMAJ.

“Research shows that in addition to severe chest infections, flu may also lead to heart attacks and strokes,” Vamos said. “Most severe influenza complications occur in the elderly and people who suffer from long-term conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma,” she added by email. To understand how flu vaccines may influence the odds of hospitalization and death for diabetics, researchers examined data on patients’ age, weight, smoking status and gender and looked at whether patients had a diagnosis or prescription for conditions for a variety of other medical conditions.

They looked at records both during the flu season and during summer months when influenza cases were less common. Patients who got the flu vaccine had 24 percent lower death rates from all causes during the study period. They also had lower rates of hospitalization for heart attack, but the difference wasn’t big enough to rule out the possibility that it was due to chance. One limitation of the study is that researchers weren’t able to assess the possibility that some people had undiagnosed diabetes, the authors note. It’s also possible that people who get vaccinated are healthier in other ways than people who skip their annual flu vaccine, the authors also point out.

Even so, the findings highlight the benefits of vaccination, said Dr. Laura Rosella, a public health researcher at the University of Toronto who wasn’t involved in the study. “It is well known that people with chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, are more likely to suffer complications from the flu,” Rosella said by email. “For this reason,” Rosella added, “the best protection among people with chronic conditions is preventing the flu in the first place, which can be achieved by receiving the influenza vaccine.”

Flu pandemic threat is still with us... WHO: Influenza Pandemic Remains Global ThreatNovember 17, 2016 — The World Health Organization has warned that a global influenza pandemic remains a real threat despite progress made over the past 10 years in increasing the worldwide supply of flu vaccines.

In 2006, the World Health Organization acknowledged that countries around the world were ill-prepared to tackle an influenza pandemic. At the time, there were concerns about an H5N1 bird flu pandemic spreading globally. In response, the WHO launched the Global Action Plan (GAP) for influenza vaccines with three main objectives. It aimed to increase evidence-based seasonal vaccine use; increase vaccine production as a protection against pandemics and improve regulatory capacity in developing countries; and promote research and development for better vaccines. That initiative has now ended, but Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO assistant-director general for health systems and innovation, observed that global preparation for an influenza pandemic had vastly improved over the past decade. "We are certainly better prepared for an influenza pandemic than we were 10 years ago," Kieny said, "but,we must not lose the momentum and we are still facing the threat of an influenza pandemic in 2016." More vaccine production The WHO said global production capacity for pandemic vaccines increased from an estimated 1.5 billion doses in 2006 to 6.2 billion last year. While it's an impressive achievement, Kieny said, it "still falls short of the GAP goal to immunize 70 percent of the population with two doses of vaccine, potentially for which we would need 10 billion doses." She noted that only rich countries were producing vaccines in 2006, whereas today, 14 mostly upper-middle-income countries were making strides toward manufacturing their own vaccines. In addition, she said, the number of countries that have national influenza immunization policies in place has increased from 74 to 115 today, "including lower-middle-income countries and one low-income country."

A boy gets an influenza vaccine injection at a health care clinic in Boston, Massachusetts

William Ampofo, a professor at the University of Ghana and an advisory group member of the GAP, said he was encouraged by the progress made, but he told VOA he was disappointed that the creation of the GAP had not resulted in increased vaccine production capacity in Africa. "As part of the GAP, technology transfer was provided for developing countries, and South Africa and Egypt were part of this initiative," he said. "Unfortunately, the tech transfer has not resulted in influenza vaccine production capacity as of now." He added, however, that the Ebola epidemic in West Africa had shown that vaccination is an effective tool against a dangerous virus and that the manufacture of a flu vaccine on the continent should be seriously considered. "Because of what happened with Ebola, now the countries — in West Africa, especially — the ministers of health are now giving attention to vaccine production capacity on the African continent," he said. "They recognize, however, that it is very difficult, but they feel that something must be started." Flu season

Granny says, "Dat's right - get yer flu shotBird Flu Virus Spreading Rapidly Across Northern EuropeNovember 23, 2016 - German medical experts have warned that a strain of the bird flu virus is spreading rapidly across northern Europe, most likely being carried by wild birds that do not show any symptoms.

Thomas Mettenleiter, president of Germany's animal-health-monitoring Friedrich Loeffler Institute, issued the warning on November 23. Mettenleiter said the H5N8 virus is now jumping from wild birds to domestic fowl on northern European farms. He said the virus has been detected in 10 German states since it was first registered in the country on November 8.

Cases have also been reported in other European countries, including Denmark and Sweden -- which announced on November 23 that its first case of the disease was confirmed in a wild bird in the south of the country. Further tests were being carried out on a poultry farm in southern Sweden.

H5N8, which is not thought to be dangerous to humans, was first found on the border of Russia and Mongolia in June. Since then, it also has been found in Iran and Israel.

Seoul raises bird flu alert after two more cases foundThu, Nov 24, 2016 - South Korea yesterday raised the nation’s bird flu alert status to its second-highest level as two more outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N6 virus occurred after the first cases were confirmed last week.

The new bird flu outbreaks were discovered at two duck farms in central and southwestern regions of the nation, the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement. All 30,500 ducks at the two farms have been culled. One more case was confirmed on Tuesday and the second earlier yesterday, the statement said.

Since the first cases of the H5N6 avian influenza were reported in the same region on Friday last week, a total of four cases have been found and three other poultry farms in other parts of the nation are being tested, the statement said. The ministry raised its bird flu alert level to “alert,” from “caution” as an increasing number of farms are reporting suspected infections in a short period of time.

More than 510,000 birds have been slaughtered to contain the spread of the virus, accounting for less than 1 percent of the nation’s total poultry population of 84.7 million, said a ministry official, who declined to be identified. Cases of human infection from the H5N6 virus have previously been reported in China and Hong Kong, with the virus killing 10 people in China since April 2014, the ministry’s data showed. The ministry has already put in place a poultry movement ban for farms within a 10km radius of where the bird flu virus had earlier been found.

The ministry said it is also considering a temporary nationwide standstill order to prevent the virus from spreading. Other bird flu cases have previously occurred in South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, since 2014. The outbreaks lasted for more than 660 days, killing at least 13 million birds, ministry data showed. The most recent bird flu outbreak was reported in March, when the H5N8 strain was found at a duck farm.

The Department of Justice issues a report on vaccine injuries and deaths every quarter to the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (Click on “Meeting Book – PDF – 10.8 MB” for September 3rd meeting). There are 211 cases for vaccine injuries and deaths for the period 5/16/2015 through 8/15/2015.

[COLOR=black !important]86 of the settlements were listed in this report, giving the name of the vaccines, the injury, and the amount of time the case was pending before settlement. Three of those settlements were for deaths linked to vaccines, with two deaths related to the flu shot, and one death for the HPV shot. 65 of the 86 settlements were for injuries and deaths due to the flu shot, and the majority of flu shot injuries were for Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS).

[/COLOR]These quarterly reports on vaccine injuries and death settlements from the U.S. vaccine court are seldom, if ever, reported in the mainstream media. Wereport them here at Health Impact News. Here is the September 3, 2015 report:

Read more at the link. Also you can go to the Court of Federal Claims and go to the Special Masters (link is vaccine claims). Read all of the decisions you want.